Article holder



1954 G. H. HAGERMAN 2,695, 95

ARTICLE HOLDER Filed Nov. 23, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. 671.8151??- 1% HQ'GEfMfl/V,

A TORNEYS.

Nov. 30, 1954 5. H. HAGERMAN ARTICLE HOLDER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H4cE/ MAN;

kazer 5! Filed Nov. 23 1951 ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 30, 1954 e. H. HAGERMAN 2,695,

ARTICLE HOLDER v Filed Nov. 23, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Q g Q 21 3.9 40 Q 32 .78 g L INVENTOR. Gkaas r fl/{vaammx ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent Ofiice 2,695,595 Patented Nov. 30, 1954 Donnelsville, Ohio, assigrror to Inct,-.Springfi'eld-, Ohio; a corporation:

This. invention. relates; to an. apparatus. for; treating articles,v and particularlyarticles which. are. symmetrical about. anaxis while these articles. are: translated: along; a. path. and rotated about an: axis; Therearemany manu facturing; operations wherein; article. is to be. given. a treatment: of one sorter another whereit isrdesirable. that the: article during its. treatment be. both rotated and. trans-- latecb. The-.treatment may involve a- .dipping eitheart-icle in aatreating solution where it is.desirableltoldipwonly'pew riplieral portions of the article, and the treatment furthen inkay involve-passage: through a.hea-t treating oven. on the Amongvar-ious. treatments for which the: present apparatus is particularly well. adapted is the treatment. oh electrical elementsv such as, electric. motor armatures to. provide them with an. insulatingvarnish; In sucha't-reatment the armature is dipped in a varnish. and is; thenheattreated inan oven. Thetreatment is: sometimes re? peated and it is. desirable thatrthe. armature be s'lowly'rotated. during its; treatment so that? a uniform deposit of; treatingliquidlis picked: up by, the. article, and sothat. the articleais uniformly heat; treated.

In connection withthe provision of an apparatus. as above. outlined,. there is a considerable problem in. connection= with providing; a carrier. for such articles: where the articles may be of different sizes andshapes. From. a. production standpoint it: is. highly desirable that a particular carrier. beable to carry articles'ofi'various:sizes;..

It is. therefore, an objectof the present ihventionto pro Vldfifll'lzfiQPfllBlLlSaSfibOVC outlined in whicha c'arrier'for: articles. tobetreated isprovidedywhich israrrangecr to' accept and carry articles zofiaavariety ofsizes;

It is another object of. theiinventioncto. provideradevice as outlined wherein means are provided for translating a carrier or holder, and an. article. held thereby along a pathiwhile at .the'samei: time. imparting slowrotationi to the arm 6;.

It is stillanothenobject; of. the: invention to provide a structure as outlined above which will be simple andrela= tively inexpensive? to:- construct, and. relatively fool-proof in. operation;

These; and; otherrobjects: ofiitheinvention, which Willi be pointed out: in more: detail hereinafter; or which Will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these spec ifications, are; accomplished. bythat certain construction and: arrangement: of: parts, of: which the following is an exemplary embodiment;

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof, and inwhich:

Figure 1 is-adiagrammatic side elevational view of an apparatus according to the invention;

Figuret2 is an elevational viewof one of the article holdersom a=greatly enlarged scale;

Figureis across sectional view' ofthe same taken on a line 33-'of 'Figure 2-;

Figure 3'a is'a fragmentary cross sectional view ofv a modified article-holding-pin;

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view through the apparatus taken on a line 44 of Figure l on a greatly enlarged scale;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on a line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on a line 6-6 of Figure 1;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary side elevation of a conveyer element used in the invention; and

' 2 Figure. 8. is across. sectionalview taken. on a line 8-8 of Figure 2.

Briefly, .in.the

pins which are rotativelymounted' in a frame. the. pins is fixed... against. axial. movement. with. respect to the. frame, and. the other piilt can.- move axially and"v is. spring-pressed in the. direction of the other pin. In this way artlcles of' differentlengths, may be. held: by. spring,

pressure betweenLthelholding. pins; Wheel elements are provided upon which. the, holder may ride, and tooth:

wheel. elementsare secured tothewheels. to, engage toothel'ements along the path of travel... to impart. rotation. to.

the pins and thus. to thearticleheIdItliereby.

Referring now in more: detail. to. the: drawings, I. have shown in; Figure 11 a diagrammatic.representation of an. apparatus according to the. heating oven is shown in broken. lines: at A, a first dip bath is. shown at. B, a firsttreating oven is shown: at C, a second dip. bath is; shown. at D, and a secondtreat-- ment oven isashownat E.. Articles to be'. treated in this. exemplary embodiment. wilL travel from left. to. right and will. be subjected first to apre-heiating then a baking operatiom, followed by a second dip: and a final. baking; operation. The holders, or carriers; in which: the articles to be. treated are carried, are indicated at 10, and these holders move: along: a track 11 which will; be; provided with. the. humps 12 and the. depressed portions 13. for the dip baths B and D: Return tracks. for the holders. are indicated at 14,. and it will be ob served that the; tracks 11- are downwardly curved around the ends of the apparatus as indicated at 11a, and the tracks 14: are upwardly curved around the end of; the apparatus. assindicated at 1421.. Aconvey'er element com: prises a: chain 15: which passes around: thesprocket 16, one at each end of the: machine, and the chain. 15 is provided: with the: upstanding lugs 10?, which engag rthe various: holders; [0.

From. an general. standpoint; it will be: clear that the conveyor 15: moves in a clockwise directionz with the upper? flightv moving towardsthe. right, and the. lower flight toward the leftinFigure l. therconveyer'l5 moves; toward: the. right, the" various. upstanding: lugs 11 carry along with them theaholders 1 0. The: holders 10 roll along the tracks. 11' until the right-hand end of the apparatus. is. reached. where the holders. gradually are transferred from the. curved portion 11a: to the curved; portion: 14a, so that they return toward. the lefts end. of the machine on the: tracks 1-4, At the. lefti-handzend of the machine. they gradually are transferred from: the curved tracks 14a. to the. curved: tracks 1121,. and? thence to the.-upper tracks? 11.

Coming now to. a more detailed description of theholders, and: referring particularly to Figures 2,, and 8, it will be: seenthat these" consist" generally of a frame 20. At each end of the frame 20 v there is provided a block 21 which is secured tothc f'rame 20' as by welding; As seen inFigure 8, the block 21' is rectangular in end" elevation, and it is the block 2L at each end of the. holder which is engaged between the upstanding lugs 17*of the conveyor 15 It will be-und'erstood that the blocks 21 may' slide freely between the lugs 17? so that as, the holders pass over the humpsll' and" into; the depressions 13, the block 21may slide up and down with respect tothe lugs.1!7.

Ball bearing races are; preferably formed in the blocks 21 as best seen-in Figure 3.-at.21a.. n

Referring; now more particularly to the right-hand end of; thexholtlen: ofi Figures '2: and. 31,. the: block 21 is; perfoe rated; for: the: passage: of a. sleeve 22;. and 011'? the sleeve. is' mounted. a wheel. 23 to which is secured: a sprocket 24. The assembly of the wheel 23 and sprocket 24 is secured to the sleeve 22 by means of a set screw as shown. The wheel 23 is formed with a bearing race 23a to cooperate with the bearing race 21a mentioned before. At the outer end of the sleeve 22 there is provided a collar 25 secured to the sleeve-by a set screw 26 and having a screw 27 engaging a flat 28 on the pin 29. The pin 29 passes through thesleeve 22 and extends to the interior of the practiceofi the invention thearticle which is substantially symmetrical. about. an axis, is held between. One of.

invention. wherein. a pre.

frame 20. At its inner end the pin 29 is formed with a conical point 30.

It will be clear from the above description that the pin 29 may be preset in any desired axial position by means of the screw 27, and that once the screw 27 has been tightened the pin 29, collar 25, wheel 23, sprocket 24, and sleeve 22 form a unit which is rotatable with respect to the block 21 through the two ball bearings shown.

The structure at the left-hand end of the holder 'is slightly modified in that the sleeve member 31, which corresponds to the sleeve 22, has secured to its outer end the elongated spring-retaining bolts 32. The pin 33 is non-rotatable with respect to the sleeve 31 and its associated parts by virtue of the flat 34 and screw 35, but it has secured to its outer end the collar 36, which is provided with apertures 37 for the passage of the spring bolts 32. Springs 38 are disposed over the bolts 32 between the heads thereof and the collar 36. By this construction the pin 33 is caused to rotate with the wheel 39 and sprocket 40. It can be moved axially and it is spring urged toward the right.

In Figures 2 and 3 the dotted rectangle 41 indicates a symmetrical article to be held in the holder. Generally such articles will have center holes at opposed ends, and the points 30 and 30a of the pins '29 and 33 may be engaged with such center holes to hold the article 41 tightly between them. In the event that the article, or its shaft is centerless ground, the modification of Figure 3a is used. Here the pin 29a terminates in a bell center 29b, for engagement with the article 41a. From the foregoing description it will be clear that the assembly of the wheels 23 and 39, sprockets 24 and 40, pins 29 and 33, and the article 41, will be freely rotatable with respect to the frame 20 on the various ball bearings shown.

Referring now to Figure 4 the tracks 11 can be very clearly seen, with the wheels 23 and 39 riding upon them. The engagement of the block 21 with the lugs 17 of the conveyor 15 can also be seen clearly.

In order to provide for a positive drive in rotation of the articles to be treated, a sprocket chain is provided along side of each track 11 as indicated at 42. Thus,

the wheels 23 and 39 resting on the tracks 11 support the weight of the holder and the article held thereby, while the engagement of the sprockets 24 and 40 with the chains 42, ensures rotation of the article as it isbeing translated by the lugs 17. It will be understood that if a positive drive is not required, as for example, if

the coeflieient of friction between the wheels 23 and 39,

and the tracks 11, is sufliciently high, the sprockets 40 and 24 and chains 42, could be eliminated. It should be further understood that this invention is not limited to the use of sprockets and chains, and that the terms, fixed tooth element,and circular tooth element are inclusive .t

of racks and spur gears, or pins and pin wheels and other similar well-known mechanical expedients. The tracks 11, sprocket 42, and conveyer 15 may be suitably mounted upon a part of the framework of the machine as indicated generally at 50.

' At the lower portion of the figure another holder is shown during its return movement, and-it will be observed that the wheels 23 and 39 are now riding upon the track 14, and that the lugs 17 are now in inverted position, and that the sprocket chains 42 have been omitted. The reason for this omission of course is that on ,the lower flight the holders are simply being returned to starting position and there is .no requirement that they be uniformly and positively rotated.

The various details of the piping for the baths B and D will not be described since the particular treatment does not form a part of the present invention. 7

Figure 6 is quite similar to Figure 4 except that it shows It will be clear that numerous minor modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention. It will also be clear that I have provided a holder which can be used to accept without adjustment articles of a great variety of sizes, and which with a minor adjustment will accept a still Wider range of sizes.

In the operation of the apparatus it will only be necessary to have an operator at the left-hand end as seen in Figure 1 who withdraws the pins 33 and places the articles 40 in position as shown in Figures 2 and 3, and then places the holders in proper engagement with the lugs 17. At the right-hand end of the machine it is only necessary to have an operator to remove the finished articles from the holders. The holders are returned automatically to their starting positions. Of course a single operator at the left hand end of the machine can both remove the finished articles as well as load further articles to be treated. In this case the treated articles travel around the right hand end of the machine and toward the left underneath the machine. It will also be clear that the depth to which the articles are to be peripherally treated can be determined by the depth of the treatment tanks B and D, and by the depth of the depressions 13 in the tracks in the region of the treatment bath. Similarly,

the invention is applicable to treatments where no baking is performed, but a dipping operation only; and similarly to an operation where there is no dipping but only a heat treatment.

In fine, what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An article holder for the purpose described comprising a frame of a size to encompass said article, axially aligned bearings at opposite ends of said frame, a sleeve having a set screw and mounted for rotation in one of said bearings, axially aligned article holding pins, one mounted in said sleeve and secured by said set screw whereby its axial position may be adjusted and fixed in adjusted position, and the other rotatably and axially yieldably mounted in the other of said bearings, wheel means non-rotatably secured to said sleeve and to said rotatably mounted pin so as to impart rotation to said sleeve and the pin secured thereto and to said rotatably mounted pin when said wheel means are rotated with respect to said frame. 7

2. An article holder according to claim 1, wherein the mounting for said yieldably mounted pin comprises a sleeve in which said last named pin is non-rotatably but axially slidably mounted, said sleeve carrying spring retaining bolts, and said pin having fixed thereto a collar having apertures for the passage of said bolts, and springs gnl said bolts between said collar and the heads of said 3. An article holder according to claim 1, wherein said wheel means comprise rollers, and wherein a sprocket is secured to one at least of said rollers for imparting a positive drive 'to an article held between the pins of said holder.

4. An article holder according to claim 1, wherein each of said wheel means comprises a roller, and wherein a sprocket is secured to each roller forimparting a positive drive to an article held between the pins of said holder.

5. An article holder according to claim 1 wherein said pins are provided with conical article engaging ends a section through an exemplary baking oven E, wherein infra red lamps or the like may be-provided, as at 60. The walls of the oven E willpreferably be of insulating materia for engaging in center holes in said article.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

